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Athens commission to vote on economic development tonight

A proposal to create an Athens-Clarke County Economic Development Department might come to fruition tonight.

Just more than a year after Mayor Nancy Denson convened a task force to look at economic development, a department under Manager Alan Reddish’s office has taken shape. Under the ordinance to be considered on tonight’s meeting agenda, the proposed department would be responsible for identifying and recruiting opportunities to enhance quality of life and the Athens the tax base, developing and supporting a business and industrial retention/expansion program, and developing an incentives program to be used during recruitment.

According to the ordinance, the department also would build a sales team of people affiliated with local businesses, health care providers, utilities, the arts and others, as well as an “aggressive marketing plan” to be used in recruitment. It would also keep an inventory of properties available for industrial and business opportunities.

It would coordinate with and support the Athens Area Chamber of Commerce’s efforts with local entrepreneurial commercial businesses. It also would review and recommend changes to local laws to mitigate barriers to economic development without compromising community values. This department would have the power to sign confidentiality agreements if approved by the manager’s office.

In the months leading up to tonight’s vote, almost all of the commissioners have voiced their support for it. Commissioner Doug Lowry was the lone no vote authorizing its creation in December. His criticism then was that the office wasn’t defined enough, though he said he understood the need for more funding for economic development.

The ordinance sets aside $95,000 from the Economic Development Foundation’s hotel-motel tax fund and unappropriated cash from the economic development capital projects account for the remainder of the fiscal year, which ends in June. The mayor and commission will need to set future funding for the department during budget talks for the next fiscal year.

Earlier recommendations would give the department a budget of between $600,000 and $700,000. The total proposed funding is less than half of what a mayor-appointed Economic Development Task Force recommended in September.

Police Chief Jack Lumpkin also is asking for $50,500 for two new, permanent information technology workers to help with a computer upgrade for his department’s dispatching and records keeping. That money would cover the rest of this fiscal year. Afterward, the two positions would be $121,155 a year.

For the immediate future, the two new IT workers will comprise part of the department’s update of computer-aided dispatch and records management software purchased seven years ago from Alabama-based Intergraph Corp. When it was installed, the company recommended having six workers to support the system. However, the county has operated with half that and also dealt with high turnover due to the stress of the 24-hour, mission-critical system and higher-paying jobs elsewhere.

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